Since my last post, I have to say that life has been quite eventful in Mauritania. Before I get to the negative, I’ll talk a bit about my trip to Mali.
Not even two weeks after I returned from South Africa, I was on my next trip to Mali. I left on the Nouakchott-Bamako bus from Kiffa, with Adam, and our friends Pablo and Elise. Though we had bought tickets for the bus days in advance, there were no seats available. We didn’t feel like waiting until the next evening for another bus, with no guaranteed seats, so decided we’d take a place in the aisle. People were lining the aisle all the way to the front of the bus. We took the bus to the Mauritanian border town of Kobenni. Because Mauritania and Mali don’t have the best relationship, we couldn’t take the bus over the border. So, we all get off the bus, load into taxis at 2am, and take off for the Malian border town, Nioro. After getting through the border patrol (not very official), we arrived in Nioro at 4am. The bus didn’t leave until 8am, so we just sat at the bus station, waiting. Finally, at 8, we loaded the bus. In Mali, they take your name and call it out to board the bus. This was much more organized than anything I’ve witnessed in Mauritania! We all had seats going to Bamako, about a 6 hour ride. So, 22 hours after leaving Kiffa, we arrived in Bamako! It was definitely worth it. Bamako exceeded my expectations. The town was beautiful, and even though it was a big city, had the feel of an African village. We checked into the hotel, and headed to the restaurant. The rest of the week, we circulated between the hotel pool, the hotel bar/restaurant, and the hotel room, with blasting air conditioning.
While we were there, Mali and Ghana had a World Cup Qualifying soccer match. Along with about 12 other PC Mauritania volunteers, as well as a lot of PC Mali volunteers, we all dressed up in ridiculous Mali soccer outfits and went to the game. It was really amazing seeing how excited all these Malians were for their team!! (Note: Mauritanians get excited over nothing). During the first half, no one scored. In the second half, Ghana was up by one. We debated leaving, since we were told if Mali is losing, get out of there 15 minutes before the game is over. Stampedes can occur and people could die. At about that 15 minute mark, Ghana scored again. So, we decided it was time to leave. I was amazed by how incredibly nice the people of Mali are. After we left the game, a group of 9 of us were trying to get a taxi. We couldn’t find one anywhere (we assume everyone was watching the game on TV). This guy with a tiny, covered truck offered to give us a ride. We piled into the back. Everyone in Bamako has a scooter. As we were sitting in the back of the truck in traffic, the people on scooters kept getting a kick out of a group of white people in the back of a truck, and kept telling us “We’re sorry!!” “Thank you so much for coming!”. They were apologizing to US for their team losing! The ride took about 45 minutes to get back to the hotel. When the guy dropped us off, we asked him how much he wanted. He shook his head and said “Cadeau” (Gift). Everywhere we went, people were more than helpful and just amazing!
Those were the main highlights of being in Mali. We also received a slew of bad emails while we were there. The first, which came right after the Mali-Ghana game, was from our country director, saying that the match that was supposed to occur between Peace Corps Mali and Peace Corps Mauritania was cancelled. We were supposed to go to this match on our way back from Bamako. Apparently, the British man who was abducted by al quaeda and murdered the week before in Mali raised the security concerns for the US Embassy. The idea of a group of Americans together didn’t sound very safe. We were disappointed.
Then, the next evening, we received the news that our new group of volunteers would have their training postponed, because the Mauritanian government isn’t granting visas to Americans. Training was set to begin a week after we received this news.
The next evening, I received an email from the Safety and Security officer saying he would be at my site three days after I was set to leave Bamako. My APCD was also planning on coming two days after that. This meant I had to rush back to Magta Lahjar and couldn’t ease myself back into Mauritania. Not as bad as the other news, but still disappointing.
I arrived back in Mauritania and the rumors were flying. With the new volunteers not getting visas and training being postponed, what did that mean for us? Is the country director waiting for the elections, in July, to see if the “new” government will allow new volunteers? I won’t say all of the rumors, because none of them have any evidence, it’s just speculation on our part, and I don’t want people at home thinking some idea we came up with is actually going to happen. The idea of no new volunteers really started to bum me out, especially when I found out that Chelsey, my site mate, moved her Close of Service date up to July 15th, instead of August 8th. I will be all alone in Magta Lahjar. In my region, I will be the only person not in the regional capital (or suburbs).
Then, two days ago, we received more bad news. An American living in Nouakchott was involved in a kidnapping attempt. He was too strong for the guys trying to kidnap him, so they shot him multiple times in the streets of Nouakchott. Now, we’ve received word that the new class of volunteers have been completely cancelled, a call made by Peace Corps bureau in Washington, DC, because of the security concerns in Mauritania. I don’t know what this means for us. Everything is uncertain. We’ll either be here, by ourselves, for another year; we’ll get evacuated, either Peace Corps decision, or Mauritania’s decision to kick Americans out; or we’ll have the option to interrupt our service. I’ll say by September we’ll know what our fate will be. We hope our safety won’t become an issue.
I’ll keep this updated with the latest news of our situation.
Liz
ps, as I write this post, al quaeda has released a statement taking resposibility for the killing of the American aid worker in Nouakchott.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Bye, Donkey: Tales from South Africa
I received a kind gift from the universe recently. I like to think the universe sees that I live in one of the hottest regions of the world and said “I’m sorry, Liz. How about I give you amazing weather while you’re on vacation in South Africa?” I’ll take it. Donkey.
Arriving in South Africa and Sanbonani (Kruger National Park)
After travelling for three days in numerous taxis to get to Dakar, I was thrilled to be engulfed in some of the finer luxuries of life: airplane food, personal TVs, and cozy blankets. The flight to South Africa was amazing. It was also a treat to see so many Americans! Once arriving in Johannesburg and flying through Customs (the airport was surprisingly extremely efficient), I had a long awaited reunion with my Dad and Donna. We waited for about half an hour for Adam’s flight to get in. The entire time, I couldn’t stop looking at every detail in the airport. The floors were so shiny and clean. It didn’t stink. There were people in normal clothes (the women didn’t have their heads covered! gasp!). When Adam arrived, we were like children comparing Christmas presents. “What did you eat on your flight?!” “I had bacon!!” “I had cheese three times!” “What movies did you watch!?!” etc. The evening just kept getting better, as my dad had rented a small-SUV, which was clean, and Adam and I didn’t have to share a seat going to the hotel. At the hotel, a fridge of beer, room service (lasagna for dinner!), a huge bed, and a hot shower awaited. I couldn’t wipe the grin off of my face.
The next morning, we packed up the car and headed to the Sanbonani resort outside of Kruger National Park. The drive was about 4 hours. The entire time, Adam and I were shooting pictures left and right. There were hills and fields and ponds! Right as I was thinking “It’s so green!”, Donna, my step-mom, says “Wow. It’s so brown here.” In hindsight, it was fairly brown and dull. But this being the only real vegetation I’ve seen in a year, I was thrilled. I ended up deleting all but a few pictures of that drive. During the trip, we went through a toll booth, and after my dad paid the toll, the woman turns and says “Bye, Donkey!” We all wonder “Did she just call my dad a donkey?” Turns out “Dankie” is the Afrikaans word for “Thank you”. Needless to say, we had fun with that. After getting to Sanbonani and seeing how green that region really was, I realized I might have been a little over excited for the “green” I saw on the trip. The area Sanbonani and Kruger Park is in was, in fact, very green, mountainous, and absolutely beautiful. We stayed in a duplex-like bungalow, with a huge living room, kitchen, two bedrooms, and two bathrooms. We had a patio that looked out over a little stream. The first day at Sanbonani, we relaxed. Adam and I had been travelling for 5 days straight and Dad and Donna were still getting used to the time change. We explored the resort, walking down paved roads, past the bungalows with manicured lawns. It felt like America. Minus the warning signs for hippos and the “A fed monkey is a dead monkey” sign.
The next day, we set off to visit some beautiful waterfalls in the morning. The first one, Bridal Falls, required a short hike to get to the waterfall. Hiking up a hill, surrounded by trees, hearing the roar of the waterfall felt like Asheville. I kept taking deep breaths so I could take in as much of the smell as possible. We visited another fantastic waterfall, Horseshoe Falls, after Bridal Falls. Around lunch time, we had an appointment with the elephants. We went to an elephant sanctuary that had two elephants living there. The elephants had been pets until people realized they couldn’t take care of an elephant (duh?). We had a brief lesson on the elephants before they were brought out to meet us. They each had a handler and were very well behaved. Each one of us got to go up and explore the elephants. We could touch its’ trunk, belly, feet, tail, and even the tongue! My favorite part was when they elephant brought his trunk to my neck and gave me a big kiss! Adam, Dad, and Donna all got to lead the elephants by their trunks. I was the photographer. We left very satisfied. Just when I thought the day couldn’t get any better, we stopped at a brewery, where they had a Pale Ale. Probably the only one I would get on the trip, I savored every sip.
The following morning was the beginning of our day at Kruger National Park. The park is set up with roads through a huge reserve for animals. There are chances you’ll see lots or chances you’ll see nothing. Except impala. They’re everywhere. Upon entering the park, I saw our first animal. The impala. We were SO excited!! Then, for the next half hour, all we saw were impala. Impala everywhere. Just when we were thinking it would be a failed trip, Adam spotted a wild elephant walking through the trees. As a note, all the animals in Kruger are wild. They are protected, but don’t have any contact with humans caring for them. The wilderness is their feeding grounds. These elephants are NOT tame, like the ones we saw at the sanctuary. After taking numerous pictures of this elephant, we moved on. The sightings we saw throughout the day included rhinos, giraffes, zebras, kudu, hippos, and monkeys. And impala. The park closed at 5:30, and all vehicles had to be out, no exception. As we rushed to make it out, we came up to a few cars stopped. Up ahead, there was a herd of elephants crossing the road. It was absolutely unreal. As the sun was setting, countless animals started showing up. We made it out of the park with 5 minutes to spare. Knowing the animals come out in the evening and at dark made us extremely excited for the night safari we’d be going on in two days.
After dreaming of all the marvelous animals we encountered, we set off the next day to visit a town called Pilgrim’s Rest. It was a picturesque former mining town located in the mountains. On the way back, we visited some natural pools, even though it was a little too chilly to swim. The next day, we started early to get to an animal rehabilitation center. Once again, we were given a lesson on how the environment is being destroyed by people and we have to change so the animals will live. Then we were given a tour of the facilities. As we were being introduced to the birds of prey and the vultures, two baby rhinos came to say hello, walking right through the crowd. We went to the cages with two lions after that and were, literally, 2 feet from these lions. Luckily, we had a fence between us. From the lions, we saw a leopard up-close, wild dogs, a hyena (who was extremely stinky), cheetahs, and a honey badger. Honey badgers are fearless creatures that enjoy attacking the genitals of any animal in their presences. After the honey badger, the rhinos came back to spend some time with the crowd and take some pictures. A little warthog came with them as well. After the rehabilitation center, we had a relaxing lunch in a beautiful garden. There were flowers and green plants everywhere! As the evening approached, we went to the reserve where we would have our tour. We loaded into their special vehicles and headed out to track animals. The first animal we tracked were water buffalos. This vehicle could go anywhere and take down trees if necessary. After driving through the bush for quite a while, we found those elusive water buffalos. The evening followed with elephants, rhinos, wildebeest, zebras, and a lion named Marvin. As the sun disappeared, we spotted a giraffe and a porcupine. The evening ended with the spotting of the creepster of the jungle: the hyena. We pointed the spotlight at the hyena and he stopped walking away, turned around, and bared his teeth at us. The driver of the vehicle told us “the lions and elephants aren’t what you should be afraid of. It’s this guy”. The look in his eyes gave us all chills.
Our last day at Sanbonani was spent relaxing again. For the first time since we arrived, it rained. It was so relaxing sitting in the bungalow, listening to the rain pitter patter on the roof. The next day, we took off for Joburg again and caught a flight to Cape Town.
Cape Town
Upon arriving in Cape Town, we hopped in our new rented car and drove into town just in time to catch the sunset. Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever been to. As we approached Table Mountain, there was a small cloud suspended around the top. They call this the Table Cloth, as it blankets the mountain in fog. We came around the side of the mountain to see the ocean reflecting the orange sunset. After arriving at the hotel, we rushed to our room on the 7th floor to observe the ocean waves breaking over the rocks down below. Thus began what seemed like our second vacation.
The next morning, we woke up and set out on a walk along the beach for about four miles until we reached the Waterfront. On the walk, we saw people playing in green open spaces with their healthy looking dogs, the mostly-completed new stadium for the FIFA World Cup, and a seal playing in the ocean. The weather was absolutely perfect. Once at the Waterfront, it was lunch time, so we settled at the outdoor seating of Mitchell’s Brewery and had good pub food. After a relaxing lunch and some delicious brewed beers, we explored the extremely touristy, yet enjoyable, Waterfront. We found the take off point for the boat going to Robben Island, so bought tickets and were on our way. Robben Island is an island not far off the coast of Cape Town. It has a prison there that used to hold political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela. Mandela was there for 18 years. The tour started with a bus ride around the island, with a very entertaining tour guide. Then, we had a tour of the prison, led by a former inmate at the prison. It was really amazing and inspiring how these political prisoners focused their incarceration on reconstructing a relationship with the government rather than turning to anger and violence. After the tour, we rushed back to the hotel, hopped into the car, and went to see a rugby game!! On this trip, I’ve learned a lot about rugby from my dad, who is still playing, (even with his 60th birthday on the horizon!) and really enjoyed going to this game! After an action packed first day in Cape Town, we came back to the hotel for a good night of sleep.
The next day was Mother’s Day. The weather was gorgeous again, which we’re told doesn’t happen often in Cape Town, so we took advantage and went to the top of Table Mountain in a cable car. The views were absolutely gorgeous. We spent most of the day up there, just exploring and enjoying a variety of view points. That evening, we took Donna out for dinner for Mother’s Day to this amazing Belgian restaurant. The mussels were incredible. Unexpectedly, the following day, there was beautiful weather AGAIN! This time, we took a down the coast to the Cape of Good Hope, where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. On the way, we stopped to “swim with the penguins”. Walking along a boardwalk, we saw so many! Then, we went to the beach where allegedly we would swim with them. We saw no penguins upon arrival. It was my first time to the Indian Ocean, so I had to put my feet in. As Adam and I were sitting on a rock, our feet in the freezing water, a little penguin came out of the woods, waddled to the water, jumped in, disappeared, then popped up right in front of us! He got out of the water and waddled back into the woods!! And that’s when I swam with the penguins… Afterwards, we had an amazing lunch right on the water, with some of the best calamari I’ve ever had in my life. We continued to the Cape of Good Hope after that and went to the Cape Point to watch the oceans meet.
Taking another car ride the next day, we went to explore the great wineries of South Africa. We started in a town called “Franschhoek”, which means French Corner in Afrikaans. This is where many Huguenots, who were banished from France, came to settle. The first place we visited was a museum dedicated to the Huguenots. After that, we made our way up to a winery on the side of the mountain called “Haut Cabriere”. The scenery was out of a fairy tale. We were surrounded by these rolling mountains, the weather was perfect, and the winery was built into the side of the mountain, like a Hobbit hole. We had a tour of the winery before one of the employees demonstrated how to knock the top of a champagne bottle off with a saber. Since Adam’s birthday was the next day, he got to keep the top as a souvenir! We tasted a few wines, before dining in their world renowned restaurant. Even though Cabriere was the perfect winery in our eyes, we continued to a town called Paarl and visited the gift shop for KWV wines, one of the best known wineries in South Africa. We didn’t spend much time there. Paarl wasn’t as picturesque as Franschhoek.
The next day was Adam’s birthday! We set off in the morning to the District Six museum to learn about a section in the heart of Cape Town, where all of the black, colored, and Asian people had to relocate to “townships”, so their houses could be torn down and rebuilt for the white people. It’s really sad how tragic the recent history is in South Africa. They’re still recovering today. After the museum, we strolled around town, I enjoyed my first hair cut in a year, and then we dined at the “Fireman’s Arms” pub. We continued our walk (the weather was STILL amazing) to the Waterfront to do some shopping and have a beer at Mitchell’s Brewery. For dinner that night, we went to a sushi restaurant right on the water and observed some pretty huge waves. Once back at the hotel, Adam and I hung out with the bartender, who had an empty bar, while watching Adam’s favorite team, Manchester United, play.
When we woke up in the morning, the giant waves we’d seen the night before were explained. Apparently, there was a hurricane-force storm set to hit on Saturday, a day after we were planning on leaving!! I’d say we had good timing. They were calling for waves up to 20 feet. We spent our last day in Cape Town relaxing. There was a bit of a hunt for a pet store, where I could get a crate for Razza to take her back to the States after Peace Corps. There aren’t any options for pet stores in West Africa, so I acted on the opportunity. That evening, we took Dad out to celebrate his birthday a little early, since this trip was for his birthday. We ate at a delicious steak house, and got to try all sorts of game, such as kudu, springbok, and two other gazelle-like animals.
It was sad leaving the next day to go back to Johannesburg. We spent the night in the same hotel we stayed at when we arrived, then went to the airport the next morning to wait all day for our flights. I finally got to eat at a KFC and enjoy good ole fried chicken. (You can take the girl out of the south….) Sitting in a bar, we watched Manchester United win their league before we all said our goodbyes. The flight back to West Africa wasn’t as pleasant as the flight leaving it. We arrived in Senegal at 2am and sat in the airport until the sun came up so we could get to the garage and get to St. Louis. Travelling with the dog crate was not pleasant. Nor is having to haggle with every single taxi driver in Senegal. After a night in St. Louis, one in Rosso, and a couple in Nouakchott, I finally made it back to Magta Lahjar. I was welcomed with an unimaginable heat, which continues through the night, robbing one of all chances of a good night’s sleep. The water has completely gone out in Magta, meaning that men on carts dragged by donkeys with huge barrels on the back have to come fill up my plastic gas cans every few days. Also, the electricity in Magta Lahjar has been on very rarely, meaning no ice and no cold water. Here’s hoping the upcoming elections bring in a new government that will help alleviate a lot of the problems Mauritanians have been facing.
My repose in Mauritania won’t last long. I’ll be off to Bamako, Mali soon to see a World Cup qualifying game between Mali and Ghana. Then, Peace Corps Mauritania is challenging Peace Corps Mali in a soccer match a few days later. In between the games, I’ll be enjoying Bamako and hopefully escaping the heat in one way or another. After Mali, I’ll spend the most of the remainder of the summer in Magta Lahjar, hopefully preparing for a new volunteer!! Sadly, I’ll be saying farewell to Chelsey and Aubrey, two people who have made this past year bearable and have enhanced my experience in more ways than they know. Luckily, Josh has extended a third year and will be living in Nouakchott, so the North-North Branka clan will only be reduced to two.
I have another big trip in the works for September. Everyone cross their fingers that all will work out. South Africa was splendid and Mauritania is hot. Enjoy your air conditioners and give thanks to your refrigerators. Peace be with you. Love, Liz
Arriving in South Africa and Sanbonani (Kruger National Park)
After travelling for three days in numerous taxis to get to Dakar, I was thrilled to be engulfed in some of the finer luxuries of life: airplane food, personal TVs, and cozy blankets. The flight to South Africa was amazing. It was also a treat to see so many Americans! Once arriving in Johannesburg and flying through Customs (the airport was surprisingly extremely efficient), I had a long awaited reunion with my Dad and Donna. We waited for about half an hour for Adam’s flight to get in. The entire time, I couldn’t stop looking at every detail in the airport. The floors were so shiny and clean. It didn’t stink. There were people in normal clothes (the women didn’t have their heads covered! gasp!). When Adam arrived, we were like children comparing Christmas presents. “What did you eat on your flight?!” “I had bacon!!” “I had cheese three times!” “What movies did you watch!?!” etc. The evening just kept getting better, as my dad had rented a small-SUV, which was clean, and Adam and I didn’t have to share a seat going to the hotel. At the hotel, a fridge of beer, room service (lasagna for dinner!), a huge bed, and a hot shower awaited. I couldn’t wipe the grin off of my face.
The next morning, we packed up the car and headed to the Sanbonani resort outside of Kruger National Park. The drive was about 4 hours. The entire time, Adam and I were shooting pictures left and right. There were hills and fields and ponds! Right as I was thinking “It’s so green!”, Donna, my step-mom, says “Wow. It’s so brown here.” In hindsight, it was fairly brown and dull. But this being the only real vegetation I’ve seen in a year, I was thrilled. I ended up deleting all but a few pictures of that drive. During the trip, we went through a toll booth, and after my dad paid the toll, the woman turns and says “Bye, Donkey!” We all wonder “Did she just call my dad a donkey?” Turns out “Dankie” is the Afrikaans word for “Thank you”. Needless to say, we had fun with that. After getting to Sanbonani and seeing how green that region really was, I realized I might have been a little over excited for the “green” I saw on the trip. The area Sanbonani and Kruger Park is in was, in fact, very green, mountainous, and absolutely beautiful. We stayed in a duplex-like bungalow, with a huge living room, kitchen, two bedrooms, and two bathrooms. We had a patio that looked out over a little stream. The first day at Sanbonani, we relaxed. Adam and I had been travelling for 5 days straight and Dad and Donna were still getting used to the time change. We explored the resort, walking down paved roads, past the bungalows with manicured lawns. It felt like America. Minus the warning signs for hippos and the “A fed monkey is a dead monkey” sign.
The next day, we set off to visit some beautiful waterfalls in the morning. The first one, Bridal Falls, required a short hike to get to the waterfall. Hiking up a hill, surrounded by trees, hearing the roar of the waterfall felt like Asheville. I kept taking deep breaths so I could take in as much of the smell as possible. We visited another fantastic waterfall, Horseshoe Falls, after Bridal Falls. Around lunch time, we had an appointment with the elephants. We went to an elephant sanctuary that had two elephants living there. The elephants had been pets until people realized they couldn’t take care of an elephant (duh?). We had a brief lesson on the elephants before they were brought out to meet us. They each had a handler and were very well behaved. Each one of us got to go up and explore the elephants. We could touch its’ trunk, belly, feet, tail, and even the tongue! My favorite part was when they elephant brought his trunk to my neck and gave me a big kiss! Adam, Dad, and Donna all got to lead the elephants by their trunks. I was the photographer. We left very satisfied. Just when I thought the day couldn’t get any better, we stopped at a brewery, where they had a Pale Ale. Probably the only one I would get on the trip, I savored every sip.
The following morning was the beginning of our day at Kruger National Park. The park is set up with roads through a huge reserve for animals. There are chances you’ll see lots or chances you’ll see nothing. Except impala. They’re everywhere. Upon entering the park, I saw our first animal. The impala. We were SO excited!! Then, for the next half hour, all we saw were impala. Impala everywhere. Just when we were thinking it would be a failed trip, Adam spotted a wild elephant walking through the trees. As a note, all the animals in Kruger are wild. They are protected, but don’t have any contact with humans caring for them. The wilderness is their feeding grounds. These elephants are NOT tame, like the ones we saw at the sanctuary. After taking numerous pictures of this elephant, we moved on. The sightings we saw throughout the day included rhinos, giraffes, zebras, kudu, hippos, and monkeys. And impala. The park closed at 5:30, and all vehicles had to be out, no exception. As we rushed to make it out, we came up to a few cars stopped. Up ahead, there was a herd of elephants crossing the road. It was absolutely unreal. As the sun was setting, countless animals started showing up. We made it out of the park with 5 minutes to spare. Knowing the animals come out in the evening and at dark made us extremely excited for the night safari we’d be going on in two days.
After dreaming of all the marvelous animals we encountered, we set off the next day to visit a town called Pilgrim’s Rest. It was a picturesque former mining town located in the mountains. On the way back, we visited some natural pools, even though it was a little too chilly to swim. The next day, we started early to get to an animal rehabilitation center. Once again, we were given a lesson on how the environment is being destroyed by people and we have to change so the animals will live. Then we were given a tour of the facilities. As we were being introduced to the birds of prey and the vultures, two baby rhinos came to say hello, walking right through the crowd. We went to the cages with two lions after that and were, literally, 2 feet from these lions. Luckily, we had a fence between us. From the lions, we saw a leopard up-close, wild dogs, a hyena (who was extremely stinky), cheetahs, and a honey badger. Honey badgers are fearless creatures that enjoy attacking the genitals of any animal in their presences. After the honey badger, the rhinos came back to spend some time with the crowd and take some pictures. A little warthog came with them as well. After the rehabilitation center, we had a relaxing lunch in a beautiful garden. There were flowers and green plants everywhere! As the evening approached, we went to the reserve where we would have our tour. We loaded into their special vehicles and headed out to track animals. The first animal we tracked were water buffalos. This vehicle could go anywhere and take down trees if necessary. After driving through the bush for quite a while, we found those elusive water buffalos. The evening followed with elephants, rhinos, wildebeest, zebras, and a lion named Marvin. As the sun disappeared, we spotted a giraffe and a porcupine. The evening ended with the spotting of the creepster of the jungle: the hyena. We pointed the spotlight at the hyena and he stopped walking away, turned around, and bared his teeth at us. The driver of the vehicle told us “the lions and elephants aren’t what you should be afraid of. It’s this guy”. The look in his eyes gave us all chills.
Our last day at Sanbonani was spent relaxing again. For the first time since we arrived, it rained. It was so relaxing sitting in the bungalow, listening to the rain pitter patter on the roof. The next day, we took off for Joburg again and caught a flight to Cape Town.
Cape Town
Upon arriving in Cape Town, we hopped in our new rented car and drove into town just in time to catch the sunset. Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever been to. As we approached Table Mountain, there was a small cloud suspended around the top. They call this the Table Cloth, as it blankets the mountain in fog. We came around the side of the mountain to see the ocean reflecting the orange sunset. After arriving at the hotel, we rushed to our room on the 7th floor to observe the ocean waves breaking over the rocks down below. Thus began what seemed like our second vacation.
The next morning, we woke up and set out on a walk along the beach for about four miles until we reached the Waterfront. On the walk, we saw people playing in green open spaces with their healthy looking dogs, the mostly-completed new stadium for the FIFA World Cup, and a seal playing in the ocean. The weather was absolutely perfect. Once at the Waterfront, it was lunch time, so we settled at the outdoor seating of Mitchell’s Brewery and had good pub food. After a relaxing lunch and some delicious brewed beers, we explored the extremely touristy, yet enjoyable, Waterfront. We found the take off point for the boat going to Robben Island, so bought tickets and were on our way. Robben Island is an island not far off the coast of Cape Town. It has a prison there that used to hold political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela. Mandela was there for 18 years. The tour started with a bus ride around the island, with a very entertaining tour guide. Then, we had a tour of the prison, led by a former inmate at the prison. It was really amazing and inspiring how these political prisoners focused their incarceration on reconstructing a relationship with the government rather than turning to anger and violence. After the tour, we rushed back to the hotel, hopped into the car, and went to see a rugby game!! On this trip, I’ve learned a lot about rugby from my dad, who is still playing, (even with his 60th birthday on the horizon!) and really enjoyed going to this game! After an action packed first day in Cape Town, we came back to the hotel for a good night of sleep.
The next day was Mother’s Day. The weather was gorgeous again, which we’re told doesn’t happen often in Cape Town, so we took advantage and went to the top of Table Mountain in a cable car. The views were absolutely gorgeous. We spent most of the day up there, just exploring and enjoying a variety of view points. That evening, we took Donna out for dinner for Mother’s Day to this amazing Belgian restaurant. The mussels were incredible. Unexpectedly, the following day, there was beautiful weather AGAIN! This time, we took a down the coast to the Cape of Good Hope, where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. On the way, we stopped to “swim with the penguins”. Walking along a boardwalk, we saw so many! Then, we went to the beach where allegedly we would swim with them. We saw no penguins upon arrival. It was my first time to the Indian Ocean, so I had to put my feet in. As Adam and I were sitting on a rock, our feet in the freezing water, a little penguin came out of the woods, waddled to the water, jumped in, disappeared, then popped up right in front of us! He got out of the water and waddled back into the woods!! And that’s when I swam with the penguins… Afterwards, we had an amazing lunch right on the water, with some of the best calamari I’ve ever had in my life. We continued to the Cape of Good Hope after that and went to the Cape Point to watch the oceans meet.
Taking another car ride the next day, we went to explore the great wineries of South Africa. We started in a town called “Franschhoek”, which means French Corner in Afrikaans. This is where many Huguenots, who were banished from France, came to settle. The first place we visited was a museum dedicated to the Huguenots. After that, we made our way up to a winery on the side of the mountain called “Haut Cabriere”. The scenery was out of a fairy tale. We were surrounded by these rolling mountains, the weather was perfect, and the winery was built into the side of the mountain, like a Hobbit hole. We had a tour of the winery before one of the employees demonstrated how to knock the top of a champagne bottle off with a saber. Since Adam’s birthday was the next day, he got to keep the top as a souvenir! We tasted a few wines, before dining in their world renowned restaurant. Even though Cabriere was the perfect winery in our eyes, we continued to a town called Paarl and visited the gift shop for KWV wines, one of the best known wineries in South Africa. We didn’t spend much time there. Paarl wasn’t as picturesque as Franschhoek.
The next day was Adam’s birthday! We set off in the morning to the District Six museum to learn about a section in the heart of Cape Town, where all of the black, colored, and Asian people had to relocate to “townships”, so their houses could be torn down and rebuilt for the white people. It’s really sad how tragic the recent history is in South Africa. They’re still recovering today. After the museum, we strolled around town, I enjoyed my first hair cut in a year, and then we dined at the “Fireman’s Arms” pub. We continued our walk (the weather was STILL amazing) to the Waterfront to do some shopping and have a beer at Mitchell’s Brewery. For dinner that night, we went to a sushi restaurant right on the water and observed some pretty huge waves. Once back at the hotel, Adam and I hung out with the bartender, who had an empty bar, while watching Adam’s favorite team, Manchester United, play.
When we woke up in the morning, the giant waves we’d seen the night before were explained. Apparently, there was a hurricane-force storm set to hit on Saturday, a day after we were planning on leaving!! I’d say we had good timing. They were calling for waves up to 20 feet. We spent our last day in Cape Town relaxing. There was a bit of a hunt for a pet store, where I could get a crate for Razza to take her back to the States after Peace Corps. There aren’t any options for pet stores in West Africa, so I acted on the opportunity. That evening, we took Dad out to celebrate his birthday a little early, since this trip was for his birthday. We ate at a delicious steak house, and got to try all sorts of game, such as kudu, springbok, and two other gazelle-like animals.
It was sad leaving the next day to go back to Johannesburg. We spent the night in the same hotel we stayed at when we arrived, then went to the airport the next morning to wait all day for our flights. I finally got to eat at a KFC and enjoy good ole fried chicken. (You can take the girl out of the south….) Sitting in a bar, we watched Manchester United win their league before we all said our goodbyes. The flight back to West Africa wasn’t as pleasant as the flight leaving it. We arrived in Senegal at 2am and sat in the airport until the sun came up so we could get to the garage and get to St. Louis. Travelling with the dog crate was not pleasant. Nor is having to haggle with every single taxi driver in Senegal. After a night in St. Louis, one in Rosso, and a couple in Nouakchott, I finally made it back to Magta Lahjar. I was welcomed with an unimaginable heat, which continues through the night, robbing one of all chances of a good night’s sleep. The water has completely gone out in Magta, meaning that men on carts dragged by donkeys with huge barrels on the back have to come fill up my plastic gas cans every few days. Also, the electricity in Magta Lahjar has been on very rarely, meaning no ice and no cold water. Here’s hoping the upcoming elections bring in a new government that will help alleviate a lot of the problems Mauritanians have been facing.
My repose in Mauritania won’t last long. I’ll be off to Bamako, Mali soon to see a World Cup qualifying game between Mali and Ghana. Then, Peace Corps Mauritania is challenging Peace Corps Mali in a soccer match a few days later. In between the games, I’ll be enjoying Bamako and hopefully escaping the heat in one way or another. After Mali, I’ll spend the most of the remainder of the summer in Magta Lahjar, hopefully preparing for a new volunteer!! Sadly, I’ll be saying farewell to Chelsey and Aubrey, two people who have made this past year bearable and have enhanced my experience in more ways than they know. Luckily, Josh has extended a third year and will be living in Nouakchott, so the North-North Branka clan will only be reduced to two.
I have another big trip in the works for September. Everyone cross their fingers that all will work out. South Africa was splendid and Mauritania is hot. Enjoy your air conditioners and give thanks to your refrigerators. Peace be with you. Love, Liz
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Moor of Mauritania
Since my last post, I’ve dove in and buckled down in Magta Lahjar. My Hassaniya wasn’t where I wanted it to be, so I started having lunch with the people the most patient with me. One of these people is Mukawalie. Her family lives in three houses in close proximity to my house. I see her cousins every day as they sit outside of their boutique and ask me why I don’t buy milk from them every day. Mukawalie is a friend of Chelsey’s and has slowly been growing on me. When Chelsey went away for the Close of Service conference for the second year volunteers, Mukawalie and I had a lot of time together. In January, Mukawalie had the suspicion she was pregnant. She has been trying to get pregnant for almost five years. There have been a couple of times she’s thought she’s been pregnant, but either wasn’t or miscarried. Chelsey and I kept our fingers crossed and told her to go to the doctor in Aleg to confirm it and to get vitamins. She kept putting it off, and after three months, started feeling really tired and sore. Chelsey and I decided to, financially, get her to Aleg. Mukawalie didn’t have any family members that would go with her. Not even her husband, Cheik. So the day before Easter, I took off to Aleg with Mukawalie. I figured the doctor’s office wait would be worse than in America. Instead, we walked in, she went to the back room immediately, and was out in 10 minutes. She didn’t say much. We went to a restaurant to meet up with a fellow volunteer, Ashley, who lives in Aleg. Once we were settled, I asked how it went. She said that she had been pregnant, but now the baby was dead. It broke my heart that for three months she’s had her hopes up, just to have another let down. She got home and told her family, but Mauritanians aren’t too emotional about death. I guess she’ll try again.
Razza
For St. Patrick’s Day, I headed to Nouakchott for a couple of days to get Razza spayed. The first night I was there, I ran into some Americans at Schenkers. It was a group of guys contracted to work with the US Embassy. I enjoyed their company all night, and they generously offered me a few gifts from America, as they were leaving the next day and could buy something simple, such as Girl Scout Cookies, once they were home. I was thankful to hang out with some new Americans and feel like I was hanging out in a bar at home. The next day, I had to face the reality that I’m living in a third world country. That morning, I got up and grabbed a taxi to the vet’s office. I arrived at this tiny, two room building. There was one man working at the desk. When I got there, he called the vet, who showed up a couple of minutes later. We took Razza into this cold, drab room and he told me to put her on the steel table. I had to hold her while they took her temperature and gave her the sedative shot. Their bedside manner was a bit lacking. Once she’d been given her shot, they pointed to a cage built on the ground and said to put her in there. They said come back at 4pm. Her cries when I was leaving the office made it so hard! At 3:45, I was back and ready to see the pup. The office assistant led me to the room with the cage and let me take her out. She was still terribly drugged up and couldn’t move anything but her tail, which was slapping on the ground. I looked at the incision wound. Now, the spayings I have seen in the US consist of a tiny cut, held together by fancy glue. This cut was about 4-5inches long and had been pulled up and pinched together before being sewn up. It was painful to just look at it. I was given a can of aluminum to spray on it so it wouldn’t get infected. No pain killers. No healing ointment. That night, Razza was a sad case. She couldn’t get up and walk, which means she couldn’t get up to use the bathroom or get food or water. It was a rough trip back to Magta, but once we were home, her spirits improved. After a month, she’s almost completely healed and back to her bouncy puppy self. I’ve promised her that I’ll never take her to a third world veterinarian again! There have been no complications, and no one has ever had any complaints about the vet. I’m glad that he has his practice, as he is the only vet in Mauritania that spays and neuters our pets. It was just a bit difficult seeing the procedure done this way, after only experiencing the best in the US.
Work
After months of “getting to know the community”, I finally had the opportunity to put my talents to use. An NGO in Magta Lahjar told me they were having a 4-day training with cooperatives from remote villages. The first two days would be information on AIDS and Human Rights. They asked me if I could do trainings for the last two days. I was so excited and spent the next week planning two presentations: One on “Cost Calculations” and one on “Accounting and Budgeting”. The day before my presentations, I went to the NGO to go over it with them. The guy that was working there seemed a little frustrated. He told me that they didn’t realize how uneducated these people would be, saying many of them couldn’t write their names. Reading and writing was not a possibility with these people. My plans seemed ridiculous. I showed him what I was planning and we condensed everything into one day of training, saying I’d use the second day for review. All of the group projects I had planned (get together and make lists of what you buy for your business) were scratched. I went in on my first day, pretty nervous. There were 5 men and 5 women. I started with a very basic concept. I explained that “Direct Costs” were what they bought for their business that related directly to the product. “Indirect Costs” were all other expenses, like rent or electricity. I gave them an example of a boutique and divided the costs. Then I gave them another example, a list of costs, and asked them to tell me which costs went into which category. Blank stares. The translator explained the concept to them again and again. Blank stares. His frustration started to show as he got up, drew two boxes on the board. He said “This box is for men. This box is for women. Here is a list of names. You either put the name under the “Men” box or the “Women” box.” It wasn’t that they didn’t understand the difference between direct and indirect costs; it was that they don’t know how to categorize a list. It became apparent to me just how uneducated these people were. It was a learning experience for all of us. Hopefully, in the future, I’ll be working more with cooperatives from Magta Lahjar and will be able to explain my topics a little better. It wasn’t a complete failure. At the end of the day, a few of the people were giving ideas of how they could reduce costs at their business. I think just putting the idea in their head that they can track their money and prepare better was a good step.
Reese Elizabeth Vaughn
Although this doesn’t have anything to do with Mauritania, I wanted to congratulate two of my dearest friends, Kristen and Jeff Vaughn, on the birth of their daughter, Reese Elizabeth Vaughn. Kristen and Jeff have been close friends of mine since we met in college. As exciting as it’s been, this has been one of the hardest moments since I’ve been in Mauritania. I wish them the best and can’t wait to meet Reese. Congrats again to the Ruggeri and Vaughn families! I love you guys!
The countdown to South Africa continues. In less than two weeks, Adam and I will be enjoying the pleasures of the first world. The next update will tell you all about it! Thanks for reading and keep in touch! Love, Liz.
Razza
For St. Patrick’s Day, I headed to Nouakchott for a couple of days to get Razza spayed. The first night I was there, I ran into some Americans at Schenkers. It was a group of guys contracted to work with the US Embassy. I enjoyed their company all night, and they generously offered me a few gifts from America, as they were leaving the next day and could buy something simple, such as Girl Scout Cookies, once they were home. I was thankful to hang out with some new Americans and feel like I was hanging out in a bar at home. The next day, I had to face the reality that I’m living in a third world country. That morning, I got up and grabbed a taxi to the vet’s office. I arrived at this tiny, two room building. There was one man working at the desk. When I got there, he called the vet, who showed up a couple of minutes later. We took Razza into this cold, drab room and he told me to put her on the steel table. I had to hold her while they took her temperature and gave her the sedative shot. Their bedside manner was a bit lacking. Once she’d been given her shot, they pointed to a cage built on the ground and said to put her in there. They said come back at 4pm. Her cries when I was leaving the office made it so hard! At 3:45, I was back and ready to see the pup. The office assistant led me to the room with the cage and let me take her out. She was still terribly drugged up and couldn’t move anything but her tail, which was slapping on the ground. I looked at the incision wound. Now, the spayings I have seen in the US consist of a tiny cut, held together by fancy glue. This cut was about 4-5inches long and had been pulled up and pinched together before being sewn up. It was painful to just look at it. I was given a can of aluminum to spray on it so it wouldn’t get infected. No pain killers. No healing ointment. That night, Razza was a sad case. She couldn’t get up and walk, which means she couldn’t get up to use the bathroom or get food or water. It was a rough trip back to Magta, but once we were home, her spirits improved. After a month, she’s almost completely healed and back to her bouncy puppy self. I’ve promised her that I’ll never take her to a third world veterinarian again! There have been no complications, and no one has ever had any complaints about the vet. I’m glad that he has his practice, as he is the only vet in Mauritania that spays and neuters our pets. It was just a bit difficult seeing the procedure done this way, after only experiencing the best in the US.
Work
After months of “getting to know the community”, I finally had the opportunity to put my talents to use. An NGO in Magta Lahjar told me they were having a 4-day training with cooperatives from remote villages. The first two days would be information on AIDS and Human Rights. They asked me if I could do trainings for the last two days. I was so excited and spent the next week planning two presentations: One on “Cost Calculations” and one on “Accounting and Budgeting”. The day before my presentations, I went to the NGO to go over it with them. The guy that was working there seemed a little frustrated. He told me that they didn’t realize how uneducated these people would be, saying many of them couldn’t write their names. Reading and writing was not a possibility with these people. My plans seemed ridiculous. I showed him what I was planning and we condensed everything into one day of training, saying I’d use the second day for review. All of the group projects I had planned (get together and make lists of what you buy for your business) were scratched. I went in on my first day, pretty nervous. There were 5 men and 5 women. I started with a very basic concept. I explained that “Direct Costs” were what they bought for their business that related directly to the product. “Indirect Costs” were all other expenses, like rent or electricity. I gave them an example of a boutique and divided the costs. Then I gave them another example, a list of costs, and asked them to tell me which costs went into which category. Blank stares. The translator explained the concept to them again and again. Blank stares. His frustration started to show as he got up, drew two boxes on the board. He said “This box is for men. This box is for women. Here is a list of names. You either put the name under the “Men” box or the “Women” box.” It wasn’t that they didn’t understand the difference between direct and indirect costs; it was that they don’t know how to categorize a list. It became apparent to me just how uneducated these people were. It was a learning experience for all of us. Hopefully, in the future, I’ll be working more with cooperatives from Magta Lahjar and will be able to explain my topics a little better. It wasn’t a complete failure. At the end of the day, a few of the people were giving ideas of how they could reduce costs at their business. I think just putting the idea in their head that they can track their money and prepare better was a good step.
Reese Elizabeth Vaughn
Although this doesn’t have anything to do with Mauritania, I wanted to congratulate two of my dearest friends, Kristen and Jeff Vaughn, on the birth of their daughter, Reese Elizabeth Vaughn. Kristen and Jeff have been close friends of mine since we met in college. As exciting as it’s been, this has been one of the hardest moments since I’ve been in Mauritania. I wish them the best and can’t wait to meet Reese. Congrats again to the Ruggeri and Vaughn families! I love you guys!
The countdown to South Africa continues. In less than two weeks, Adam and I will be enjoying the pleasures of the first world. The next update will tell you all about it! Thanks for reading and keep in touch! Love, Liz.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Softball in Africa
As soon as life started to calm down from Christmas and New Years, it seemed like a month was gone and it was time for WAIST. I spent the couple of weeks before WAIST at site. My APCD (director of SED) came to visit and offered some helping words and some good ideas. Another volunteer, Janna, from Aleg also came to visit and go see the good people of Lekrae with me. I was thankful to have someone who is as knowledgeable in gardening as she was. She had many great ideas of where she could help their cooperatives. They were so thankful to have her there that they gifted us with a ton of fresh vegetables straight from their garden!
The week before WAIST, I wasn’t feeling so great and investigated in my medical handbook what it could be. I won’t describe the symptoms, but nothing too terrible. (You can google it and see for yourself) It seems my symptoms were typical of someone who has Giardia. While I was a little bummed about getting my first “real” sickness in Mauritania, I was glad I discovered it before WAIST so I could take the meds and be done before I left. I went to Aleg a couple of days before we were supposed to be in Rosso to drop off Razza with some region mates who would look after her. We all went to the old training center in Rosso by way of taxi to Nouakchott and bus to Rosso, arranged by the WAIST coordinators. It was a little weird being back at the training center as a volunteer. There was a schedule posted with events through the end of summer, which included Mid-Term Reconnect for all of the first year volunteers, the date of the arrival of the new trainees, the date of site announcement and site visit, and the day of swear in for the new volunteers. The realization started to sink in that I’ll be getting a new GEE site mate to replace Chelsey next year. It will be hard for someone to fill her shoes, but I’m always excited about meeting new people. We had our Safety and Security briefing in Rosso the day before our trip. The PC Mauritania team is known as the “Pirates”, which encompasses all pirate related themes. We received our shirts to indicate which team we were on. The observers, who don’t play on a team, are the “Poopdeck Seamen” and have navy blue shirts. The C-Team, which is my team, is the “Scallywags” and have yellow shirts. The B-Team is the “Buccaneers” and have green shirts. Our A-Team is the Pirates and they have black shirts. The afternoon was passed by practicing our awesome softball moves.
On Friday the 13th, we loaded up two busses early in the morning. It seemed like the longest part of the trip was getting from Rosso-Mauritania to Rosso-Senegal. We had to cross the river on a ferry (a total of about 50 yards. It’s ridiculous, but they refuse to build a bridge) and pass through customs on the Senegal side. The bus ride was rather pleasant. It wasn’t too hot and the seats were comfortable. As the day passed and the hours dragged on, the bus became more lively and rambunctious. We arrived in Dakar in the late afternoon. The busses dropped off people that would be staying in “Home stays” at the American Club, then took the rest of us to the hotel we’d be staying in. The hotel wasn’t five star, but it was comfortable. There were two bathrooms/showers on our hall, and each room had multiple beds in them. As soon as we checked in and took quick showers, I went downstairs with a few other volunteers to the restaurant right next door, called Ali Baba’s. I know it surprises you, but I ordered a pizza. It was so delicious. They use more cheese in Dakar than in Nouakchott. Not long after dinner, it was time for bed, as the next day would be the start of WAIST and sleep would be needed.
A little explanation of WAIST, for those who might be a little confused at this point. WAIST is the West African Invitational Softball Tournament. Mostly ex-pats from all over West Africa attend. While Peace Corps makes up a large percent of the people there, other teams compete as well. For example, there is a team from Nouakchott that consists of the families that own the two American restaurants there, and other Americans that live in Nouakchott. There was a team of high school students whose parents work in Embassy’s in Dakar. It’s meant to be a family-friendly weekend. I heard there were about 65 teams, but I only counted about 30. There are two divisions: the competitive league and the social league. All three teams of Peace Corps RIM are in the social league. A little bit of background about our teams: The Scallywags are traditionally the lowest, most non-competitive, non-talented team for PC RIM. We go to have a good time and ONLY that. Winning is not important. The Buccaneers take it a little more seriously. They want to have a good time, but they also want to win. Then there are the Pirates. The Pirates are our best team that people have to try out to make the team. They take their games very seriously and are in it for the trophy.
Most everyone in the hotel was up with the sun and out the door to get taxis to the American Club bright and early. We were all decked out in our pirate gear and ready to play ball. The American Club was amazing. I hadn’t felt so close to America since I’d left. Lush, green grass. A beautiful, clean pool. Thatch umbrellas covering the lounge chairs. A concession stand with real ballpark hamburgers. A bar. Three baseball fields. It was more than I could have imagined. The Scallywags, my team, were first up to play. We all started the day right with a bloody mary and headed to the field. So, our first game was against Peace Corps Gambia. Last year we tied them for last place. It was a rematch. We all went out on the field, goofed around, and had a blast. I think we won, but we weren’t really keeping track.
With three fields, there was constantly a game to watch. Almost always, one of our teams was playing. I didn’t really follow who was winning or losing. I know our Pirates were doing awesome, and that’s all that mattered. All of the volunteers for Peace Corps Mauritania were always at every game supporting our players. One of our volunteers carried around a boom box on her head and rocked out some tunes, so there was constantly a dance party. In between games, we’d relax by the pool, eating the amazingly-American food, sipping on beers, and getting to know other Peace Corps countries. We tended to bond well with Peace Corps Gambia. Throughout the course of WAIST, we ended up planning a big trip for them to come see us, and for us to go see them. It’s good to know people in other countries. For two days, the games continued and the good times were had. The first night I had a nice pizza dinner with Adam for Valentine’s Day. The second night, there was a party the Peace Corps volunteers at WAIST at this little club right on the ocean.
The third day of WAIST is perhaps the most important. It’s the tournament. The Buccaneers and Scallywags never expect to make it. However, the Pirates not only are expected to make it to the tournament, but are expected to win it. Last year was the first year that we’ve gone to WAIST that we didn’t win it. We lost in the last game to a team of Senegalese people from Dakar. This year, we cheered on every game of the day until the championship game. We were up against the same team we lost to last year. The championship game took place on a field about a five minute walk from the American Club. I liked this field because it looked out over the ocean, but more importantly because there were hot dogs and Lay’s potato chips. We all watched the game, not stopping the cheers for one second. Peace Corps Gambia, Mali, Guinea, and Senegal all had people come support us. We were neck and neck with the other team for a few innings, then ran away with the game. When it was officially over, we all stormed the field and celebrated. The trophy was coming back to Mauritania!
The party got started right after the game with PC RIM taking over the American Club. There was an attempt by the Pirates to do a team jump into the pool, but was quickly averted by the pool cleaners. It was a really clean pool. We enjoyed the success for the rest of the afternoon, then Adam and I left a little early to have our own celebration over another one of Mr. Ali Baba’s pizzas. They were SO GOOD! Eventually people filtered back to their home-stays and the hotel to clean up for the banquet. I won’t say much about the banquet. I haven’t mentioned how cool the weather was in Dakar, but the nights were down right chilly. In long pants and long sleeve shirts, one still needed more covering to keep from shivering. The banquet was outside and started at 7pm. We all sat uncomfortably at what would have been a beautiful setting. We waited for about 2 ½ hours before dinner was served. We scarfed down the food before it got cold. The announcement of the trophy winners was exciting. The Pirates received their enormous trophy. After the ceremonies, the music started and the dancing began. Except we were too cold and hungry (the food got cold fast) to have any fun, so left to go get more pizza.
We left the next morning to visit the beautiful St. Louis, as a resting stop on the way back to Mauritania. The ride to St. Louis was about 5 hours. We stayed two nights to rest before the great journey home. With a taxi to Rosso-Senegal, a boat across the river, a taxi that was off road for 100km between Rosso and Boghe, and a taxi from Boghe to Aleg, we made it to North Brakna in one day from St. Louis. A total of about 12 hours of travelling. We were worn out, but happy to see Razza. The next morning, we headed to Magta Lahjar. I never thought I’d be happy to be here and not travelling for a couple of months. It was unfortunate that on the way from Senegal to Mauritania, I seemed to have come down with a cold, that advanced into pneumonia once I got to Magta Lahjar. The symptoms haven’t been fun, but having the excuse to sit at home and do nothing for a few days has been a nice break.
In the upcoming days, I’ll be getting back out there to hang out with cooperatives and NGO’s in town. Next month, I’ll be in Nouakchott for two days getting Razza spayed and getting her the vaccinations she needs. In April, my big vacation arrives at the end of the month and I’ll be off to South Africa!! With the hot season just now starting, I will definitely be ready for that break. After South Africa, it’s June, which is one year since I arrived. I can hardly believe that it’s been almost a year since I found out my fate of living in Mauritania. It’s even harder to believe that I’ve kept a blog for an entire year! Thanks for keeping up with me and I’ll update if anything interesting happens before South Africa!
The week before WAIST, I wasn’t feeling so great and investigated in my medical handbook what it could be. I won’t describe the symptoms, but nothing too terrible. (You can google it and see for yourself) It seems my symptoms were typical of someone who has Giardia. While I was a little bummed about getting my first “real” sickness in Mauritania, I was glad I discovered it before WAIST so I could take the meds and be done before I left. I went to Aleg a couple of days before we were supposed to be in Rosso to drop off Razza with some region mates who would look after her. We all went to the old training center in Rosso by way of taxi to Nouakchott and bus to Rosso, arranged by the WAIST coordinators. It was a little weird being back at the training center as a volunteer. There was a schedule posted with events through the end of summer, which included Mid-Term Reconnect for all of the first year volunteers, the date of the arrival of the new trainees, the date of site announcement and site visit, and the day of swear in for the new volunteers. The realization started to sink in that I’ll be getting a new GEE site mate to replace Chelsey next year. It will be hard for someone to fill her shoes, but I’m always excited about meeting new people. We had our Safety and Security briefing in Rosso the day before our trip. The PC Mauritania team is known as the “Pirates”, which encompasses all pirate related themes. We received our shirts to indicate which team we were on. The observers, who don’t play on a team, are the “Poopdeck Seamen” and have navy blue shirts. The C-Team, which is my team, is the “Scallywags” and have yellow shirts. The B-Team is the “Buccaneers” and have green shirts. Our A-Team is the Pirates and they have black shirts. The afternoon was passed by practicing our awesome softball moves.
On Friday the 13th, we loaded up two busses early in the morning. It seemed like the longest part of the trip was getting from Rosso-Mauritania to Rosso-Senegal. We had to cross the river on a ferry (a total of about 50 yards. It’s ridiculous, but they refuse to build a bridge) and pass through customs on the Senegal side. The bus ride was rather pleasant. It wasn’t too hot and the seats were comfortable. As the day passed and the hours dragged on, the bus became more lively and rambunctious. We arrived in Dakar in the late afternoon. The busses dropped off people that would be staying in “Home stays” at the American Club, then took the rest of us to the hotel we’d be staying in. The hotel wasn’t five star, but it was comfortable. There were two bathrooms/showers on our hall, and each room had multiple beds in them. As soon as we checked in and took quick showers, I went downstairs with a few other volunteers to the restaurant right next door, called Ali Baba’s. I know it surprises you, but I ordered a pizza. It was so delicious. They use more cheese in Dakar than in Nouakchott. Not long after dinner, it was time for bed, as the next day would be the start of WAIST and sleep would be needed.
A little explanation of WAIST, for those who might be a little confused at this point. WAIST is the West African Invitational Softball Tournament. Mostly ex-pats from all over West Africa attend. While Peace Corps makes up a large percent of the people there, other teams compete as well. For example, there is a team from Nouakchott that consists of the families that own the two American restaurants there, and other Americans that live in Nouakchott. There was a team of high school students whose parents work in Embassy’s in Dakar. It’s meant to be a family-friendly weekend. I heard there were about 65 teams, but I only counted about 30. There are two divisions: the competitive league and the social league. All three teams of Peace Corps RIM are in the social league. A little bit of background about our teams: The Scallywags are traditionally the lowest, most non-competitive, non-talented team for PC RIM. We go to have a good time and ONLY that. Winning is not important. The Buccaneers take it a little more seriously. They want to have a good time, but they also want to win. Then there are the Pirates. The Pirates are our best team that people have to try out to make the team. They take their games very seriously and are in it for the trophy.
Most everyone in the hotel was up with the sun and out the door to get taxis to the American Club bright and early. We were all decked out in our pirate gear and ready to play ball. The American Club was amazing. I hadn’t felt so close to America since I’d left. Lush, green grass. A beautiful, clean pool. Thatch umbrellas covering the lounge chairs. A concession stand with real ballpark hamburgers. A bar. Three baseball fields. It was more than I could have imagined. The Scallywags, my team, were first up to play. We all started the day right with a bloody mary and headed to the field. So, our first game was against Peace Corps Gambia. Last year we tied them for last place. It was a rematch. We all went out on the field, goofed around, and had a blast. I think we won, but we weren’t really keeping track.
With three fields, there was constantly a game to watch. Almost always, one of our teams was playing. I didn’t really follow who was winning or losing. I know our Pirates were doing awesome, and that’s all that mattered. All of the volunteers for Peace Corps Mauritania were always at every game supporting our players. One of our volunteers carried around a boom box on her head and rocked out some tunes, so there was constantly a dance party. In between games, we’d relax by the pool, eating the amazingly-American food, sipping on beers, and getting to know other Peace Corps countries. We tended to bond well with Peace Corps Gambia. Throughout the course of WAIST, we ended up planning a big trip for them to come see us, and for us to go see them. It’s good to know people in other countries. For two days, the games continued and the good times were had. The first night I had a nice pizza dinner with Adam for Valentine’s Day. The second night, there was a party the Peace Corps volunteers at WAIST at this little club right on the ocean.
The third day of WAIST is perhaps the most important. It’s the tournament. The Buccaneers and Scallywags never expect to make it. However, the Pirates not only are expected to make it to the tournament, but are expected to win it. Last year was the first year that we’ve gone to WAIST that we didn’t win it. We lost in the last game to a team of Senegalese people from Dakar. This year, we cheered on every game of the day until the championship game. We were up against the same team we lost to last year. The championship game took place on a field about a five minute walk from the American Club. I liked this field because it looked out over the ocean, but more importantly because there were hot dogs and Lay’s potato chips. We all watched the game, not stopping the cheers for one second. Peace Corps Gambia, Mali, Guinea, and Senegal all had people come support us. We were neck and neck with the other team for a few innings, then ran away with the game. When it was officially over, we all stormed the field and celebrated. The trophy was coming back to Mauritania!
The party got started right after the game with PC RIM taking over the American Club. There was an attempt by the Pirates to do a team jump into the pool, but was quickly averted by the pool cleaners. It was a really clean pool. We enjoyed the success for the rest of the afternoon, then Adam and I left a little early to have our own celebration over another one of Mr. Ali Baba’s pizzas. They were SO GOOD! Eventually people filtered back to their home-stays and the hotel to clean up for the banquet. I won’t say much about the banquet. I haven’t mentioned how cool the weather was in Dakar, but the nights were down right chilly. In long pants and long sleeve shirts, one still needed more covering to keep from shivering. The banquet was outside and started at 7pm. We all sat uncomfortably at what would have been a beautiful setting. We waited for about 2 ½ hours before dinner was served. We scarfed down the food before it got cold. The announcement of the trophy winners was exciting. The Pirates received their enormous trophy. After the ceremonies, the music started and the dancing began. Except we were too cold and hungry (the food got cold fast) to have any fun, so left to go get more pizza.
We left the next morning to visit the beautiful St. Louis, as a resting stop on the way back to Mauritania. The ride to St. Louis was about 5 hours. We stayed two nights to rest before the great journey home. With a taxi to Rosso-Senegal, a boat across the river, a taxi that was off road for 100km between Rosso and Boghe, and a taxi from Boghe to Aleg, we made it to North Brakna in one day from St. Louis. A total of about 12 hours of travelling. We were worn out, but happy to see Razza. The next morning, we headed to Magta Lahjar. I never thought I’d be happy to be here and not travelling for a couple of months. It was unfortunate that on the way from Senegal to Mauritania, I seemed to have come down with a cold, that advanced into pneumonia once I got to Magta Lahjar. The symptoms haven’t been fun, but having the excuse to sit at home and do nothing for a few days has been a nice break.
In the upcoming days, I’ll be getting back out there to hang out with cooperatives and NGO’s in town. Next month, I’ll be in Nouakchott for two days getting Razza spayed and getting her the vaccinations she needs. In April, my big vacation arrives at the end of the month and I’ll be off to South Africa!! With the hot season just now starting, I will definitely be ready for that break. After South Africa, it’s June, which is one year since I arrived. I can hardly believe that it’s been almost a year since I found out my fate of living in Mauritania. It’s even harder to believe that I’ve kept a blog for an entire year! Thanks for keeping up with me and I’ll update if anything interesting happens before South Africa!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
January 2009: Senegal, Riots, Obama, Countdown To WAIST
The day before New Years Eve (New Years Eve Eve?), Adam and I, along with five other volunteers, set off to cross the river, into Senegal, Land of Opportunity. After stepping off the ferry into Rosso, Senegal, it felt as if a great weight had been lifted off of my shoulders! We ran to the garage to get a car to St. Louis with out one glance back to say a brief farewell to Mauritania. Sadly, the car we got, had no shocks, so the driver didn’t go over 30 kilometers per hour. However, the ride gave us an opportunity to admire how “African” Senegal is. The little villages we saw along the way reminded me of about a year ago when I was trying to picture what life in Africa would be like. We finally arrived in St. Louis, on the “mainland” part of town. We all took off by foot to the island. Adam and I went in search of our hotel. I feel weird calling it a hotel and see it more as a bed and breakfast establishment. The place was incredible. There were three levels. The first one was a little restaurant-bar area, in an open-air court yard. The next level was for the rooms. The hotel has 8 rooms. Ours was the nicest. The room was big, with a queen size bed and a table and chairs. We had a private toilet and a cute shower and sink area. The room was given a rustic look as decorations. It was cleaner and cozier than the hotels I’ve stayed in in America. You could tell that special attention was paid to each room to give it a unique feel. The sheets weren’t the generic white sheets that all hotels tend to have. Our room was on the corner, so on two walls, we had double doors opening to a walk around balcony. Our balcony looked out over the river and to the part of St. Louis with the beach. (We couldn’t see the beach from our room). Even if I had gone on vacation in America and stayed in a place like this, I’d have been blown away. But to be two volunteers who have been surviving in Mauritania, in the middle of the desert for six months, we had to pinch ourselves to make sure it was real. On the third floor of the building was a terrace looking out all over St. Louis. There were tables and chairs up there, if one wanted to have their meal on the terrace.
After cleaning Mauritania and the taxi ride off of us, we set out to explore and to find some PIZZA! The first café we came to had an assortment of food. Even though I wanted pizza, it was hard for me to turn down so many items on the menu. Adam and I split a pizza with “ham and egg” on it. The ham ended up being hot dog slices and the egg was fried up and in the middle of the pizza. As weird and crazy as it sounds, this was one of the best pizzas ever. So many flavors at once were a little hard to handle. Hot dogs being another food I’ve craved (not as much as pizza), that little extra kick just made my day. After the amazing pizza, the waitress asked if we wanted chocolate mousse. An exchanged look, shrug of the shoulders, and reasoning of “we’re on vacation!” settled it. Chocolate has never been so delicious. Even though through out our entire trip we had better food, no meal was as satisfying as this first one in St. Louis. With a beer to wash it all down, we were probably the two happiest people in West Africa as we set out to see the town.
St. Louis is what you would imagine if you took old style Europe, New Orleans, and West Africa, threw them all together, shook them around, and splattered it on the coast. The architecture was adorable and the feel of the town was comfortable. St. Louis is set up in three sections. There’s the mainland, which isn’t really touristy. Then there’s the island, which has that New Orleans feel. The island is sandwiched between the mainland and the beach mainland. I’m not sure if the mainland wraps around the island or if the beach area is a separate island. We spent our entire first day just exploring the island. We’d run into some fellow volunteers occasionally, but it was the perfect vacation to get away from Mauritania.
That night, Adam and I decided to have dinner at the hotel. As we were enjoying our seafood pasta and calamari, a group of Americans our age came in, seeming to know the place fairly well, and headed to the rooftop terrace to have a beer. When the waiter came back to the table I asked him who they were. He told us they were Peace Corps Senegal volunteers. After our meal, we decided to go up and greet them. We were given some nervous glances, which I can only assume is because of the reputation PC Mauritania has received by being raving lunatics at WAIST (the West African Invitational Softball Tournament….one month away!!) However, Adam and I were dressed in nice attire and are, perhaps, two of the most unintimidating people ever. We were invited to sit and chat, and almost immediately, I regretted my decision. Let’s just say I learned that vacation is a time to NOT talk about Mauritania.
Our second day in St. Louis started with hot cheese and ham croissants. Enough said. After breakfast, we got ready for the beach. Our lunch was a baguette, camembert cheese, and Roquefort cheese. And potato chips!! (Another amenity not found outside of Nouakchott in Mauritania). We sat on the beach all day with a group of volunteers. The water was violent and cold, but still an experience we had to take advantage of. It was a beautiful day on the beach. Adam and I went back to the hotel to clean up for dinner. Eli came over and we all enjoyed a glass of wine on the balcony while we watched the sunset. For dinner, we went to a place called “The Casino”, named so for the small casino hidden behind the upscale-ish restaurant. The waiters and waitresses wore white collar shirts and were professional. The food is all exceptional, apparently. To continue with our pattern, Adam and I ordered pizzas. These weren’t just any pizzas. They were brick oven cooked pizzas. They totally blew every other pizza we’d had out of the water. The pizzas were devoured in a matter of minutes. After our nice dinner, we set out to meet up with the other volunteers. Eventually, everyone had convened at “The Tavern”. We counted down until 2009 and had hugs and kisses all around. The Senegalese band played songs while people danced. I never thought that within two days, I would feel so far from Mauritania.
The next morning, we had our cheese and ham croissants and headed to the ocean again. Most of the day was spent taking it easy and relaxing. So far, 2009 was perfect. We had dinner that evening with Chris Paul and Anna, one of the married couples in PC RIM. Not only were they so generous to correspond with me long before I received my placement to Mauritania, and not only do we have mutual friends, but they’re automatically awesome because they’re from North Carolina. We all dined at a Vietnamese restaurant, which seemed more like Thai food, but nonetheless incredible. On our last morning, we had our usual breakfast, got packed, and headed back to Mauritania. That’s when 2009 started to go down hill. It took twice as long as usual to get to Rosso because the ferry was closed for lunch (until about 4:00). We got to Mauritania, and then had to wait forever to get through customs.
The next morning, we took off as soon as possible for Nouakchott. Early Term Reconnect/In-Service Training (ETR/IST) was starting the next day for all of the first year volunteers. This time, I stayed in the Atlas hotel with the SED and Health volunteers. We got checked into the hotel and grabbed a bite for lunch. We relaxed in the hotel until dinner time. For dinner, it was, of course, pizza. The only thing scheduled for the next day was shots from the PCMO whenever you could make it to the bureau, and a session at 2:00.
Adam and I went to the bureau to take care of shots and check out the bureau. At about 11:30, we decided to go to the restaurant a block away and grab burgers, take them back to the room, and watch a movie and eat lunch until the session at 2. A few days before we arrived, we’d heard that since Israel had attacked Gaza, there was an attempted bombing at the Israeli embassy in Nouakchott. Luckily, the Molotov cocktail didn’t detonate and no one was injured. Adam received a text our first day in Nouakchott from a PCV living in Nouakchott saying “There’s increased police presence. Keep a low profile”. Other than that, we had no clue how elevated the situation would become. After we had ordered our hamburgers and were waiting for them, we were talking with the worker at the restaurant. There were a lot of high school/college aged kids on the streets, which made since to me, since everyone is let out for lunch. They were just standing around socializing. It gave me no reason to think it was anything more than friends standing around talking. There was a police truck on the corner, but this wasn’t out of the ordinary, as we had seen police trucks all over town the day before. I mentioned the police to the restaurant worker and he was like “Yeah, people are made at Israel right now.” He went back to getting things ready for us, then said “You should stay here for a few minutes. I think people might get crazy”. I told him our hotel was real close, so he gave us our burgers and said, urgently “Go there NOW”. We weren’t sure why he was acting this way, but didn’t question it. In between the restaurant and the hotel, we stopped in a boutique to get Cokes. As we were waiting, we heard a commotion and looked out to see a large group of people running, in the direction of our hotel. The boutique owner looked at us with a concerned look, gave us our Cokes, and we started booking it to the hotel, right through the middle of the crowd. Immediately, we were noticed and people started shouting at us “F*** You Americans!” and screaming “Nasaraniye!”, which is Hassaniya for “white people” or “Christians”. Either way, people were not happy with us. We darted for the hotel, and got inside just in time to warn others not to leave. We went into our room on the third floor and out to the balcony just in time to see angry protestors throwing rocks at the police and the police shooting tear gas bombs at them. A couple of PCV’s in a taxi got caught right in between the protestors and police. When they finally arrived at our hotel, people were outside were pulling on their bags and yelling at them as they were trying to get into the building. For the next three hours, we watched the show from the roof of our hotel. The protests were making the rounds around town. People were lighting trash and tires on fire. We would see the black smoke of the fires rising, followed by the white smoke of tear gas. Numerous times throughout the afternoon, the protests would loop back to right in front of our hotel. Though a little nervous, I have to say that, while at a safe distance, it was a pretty cool to watch. The rest of the week of ETR/IST was relatively uneventful after that first day. Some kids would yell stuff at us. We had a few things thrown at us here and there, but no angry mobs to speak of. One day, there was a HUGE protest that went through town, but it was “government sanctioned”, which meant it was to be peaceful and the police would escort everyone. The crowd went by our hotel and we stood on the balcony watching them. There were thousands of people. A few people would see us, point, then give us the peace sign. A couple of big milestones over our break were the two celebrations of a) 6-months in Mauritania and b) 200 days in Africa. A quarter of our time in Africa is already over.
All good things must come to an end, including vacation (or being away from site). The car I was in from Nouakchott to Magta Lahjar kept breaking down, so it took us 8 hours instead of 4 hours to get to Magta. After ETR/IST, I’ve had more motivation to get some work done. Also, after speaking Hassaniya in Nouakchott to Moors who aren’t used to white people speaking Hassaniya and loved it, my confidence was much higher, and I’ve definitely noticed an improvement in my language. While in Nouakchott, almost all of the towns with Girls Mentoring Centers were given phones and a hook up for the internet, so I am happy to announce that I now have access to the internet in Magta Lahjar! It’s extremely slow and I’ll probably wait until I go to Aleg to update my blog and pictures, but at least I can keep in touch with people and stay connected with the world. Also, since I’ve been back in Magta, Mauritania has cut all ties with Israel, which isn’t necessarily a great thing, but hopefully this means the protests will end. We’re also eagerly awaiting the inauguration of our new President, Barak Obama, TODAY!!!
Now the countdown to WAIST begins. I found out last week that I’m playing on the “C” team. I’m definitely excited about going back to Senegal and to see everyone again so soon. Sorry for the delayed update and if you actually read all of this, thanks for getting through it all! It’s been an interesting month with some really great moments and some really stressful moments. I’m looking forward to the next adventures West Africa has in store!
After cleaning Mauritania and the taxi ride off of us, we set out to explore and to find some PIZZA! The first café we came to had an assortment of food. Even though I wanted pizza, it was hard for me to turn down so many items on the menu. Adam and I split a pizza with “ham and egg” on it. The ham ended up being hot dog slices and the egg was fried up and in the middle of the pizza. As weird and crazy as it sounds, this was one of the best pizzas ever. So many flavors at once were a little hard to handle. Hot dogs being another food I’ve craved (not as much as pizza), that little extra kick just made my day. After the amazing pizza, the waitress asked if we wanted chocolate mousse. An exchanged look, shrug of the shoulders, and reasoning of “we’re on vacation!” settled it. Chocolate has never been so delicious. Even though through out our entire trip we had better food, no meal was as satisfying as this first one in St. Louis. With a beer to wash it all down, we were probably the two happiest people in West Africa as we set out to see the town.
St. Louis is what you would imagine if you took old style Europe, New Orleans, and West Africa, threw them all together, shook them around, and splattered it on the coast. The architecture was adorable and the feel of the town was comfortable. St. Louis is set up in three sections. There’s the mainland, which isn’t really touristy. Then there’s the island, which has that New Orleans feel. The island is sandwiched between the mainland and the beach mainland. I’m not sure if the mainland wraps around the island or if the beach area is a separate island. We spent our entire first day just exploring the island. We’d run into some fellow volunteers occasionally, but it was the perfect vacation to get away from Mauritania.
That night, Adam and I decided to have dinner at the hotel. As we were enjoying our seafood pasta and calamari, a group of Americans our age came in, seeming to know the place fairly well, and headed to the rooftop terrace to have a beer. When the waiter came back to the table I asked him who they were. He told us they were Peace Corps Senegal volunteers. After our meal, we decided to go up and greet them. We were given some nervous glances, which I can only assume is because of the reputation PC Mauritania has received by being raving lunatics at WAIST (the West African Invitational Softball Tournament….one month away!!) However, Adam and I were dressed in nice attire and are, perhaps, two of the most unintimidating people ever. We were invited to sit and chat, and almost immediately, I regretted my decision. Let’s just say I learned that vacation is a time to NOT talk about Mauritania.
Our second day in St. Louis started with hot cheese and ham croissants. Enough said. After breakfast, we got ready for the beach. Our lunch was a baguette, camembert cheese, and Roquefort cheese. And potato chips!! (Another amenity not found outside of Nouakchott in Mauritania). We sat on the beach all day with a group of volunteers. The water was violent and cold, but still an experience we had to take advantage of. It was a beautiful day on the beach. Adam and I went back to the hotel to clean up for dinner. Eli came over and we all enjoyed a glass of wine on the balcony while we watched the sunset. For dinner, we went to a place called “The Casino”, named so for the small casino hidden behind the upscale-ish restaurant. The waiters and waitresses wore white collar shirts and were professional. The food is all exceptional, apparently. To continue with our pattern, Adam and I ordered pizzas. These weren’t just any pizzas. They were brick oven cooked pizzas. They totally blew every other pizza we’d had out of the water. The pizzas were devoured in a matter of minutes. After our nice dinner, we set out to meet up with the other volunteers. Eventually, everyone had convened at “The Tavern”. We counted down until 2009 and had hugs and kisses all around. The Senegalese band played songs while people danced. I never thought that within two days, I would feel so far from Mauritania.
The next morning, we had our cheese and ham croissants and headed to the ocean again. Most of the day was spent taking it easy and relaxing. So far, 2009 was perfect. We had dinner that evening with Chris Paul and Anna, one of the married couples in PC RIM. Not only were they so generous to correspond with me long before I received my placement to Mauritania, and not only do we have mutual friends, but they’re automatically awesome because they’re from North Carolina. We all dined at a Vietnamese restaurant, which seemed more like Thai food, but nonetheless incredible. On our last morning, we had our usual breakfast, got packed, and headed back to Mauritania. That’s when 2009 started to go down hill. It took twice as long as usual to get to Rosso because the ferry was closed for lunch (until about 4:00). We got to Mauritania, and then had to wait forever to get through customs.
The next morning, we took off as soon as possible for Nouakchott. Early Term Reconnect/In-Service Training (ETR/IST) was starting the next day for all of the first year volunteers. This time, I stayed in the Atlas hotel with the SED and Health volunteers. We got checked into the hotel and grabbed a bite for lunch. We relaxed in the hotel until dinner time. For dinner, it was, of course, pizza. The only thing scheduled for the next day was shots from the PCMO whenever you could make it to the bureau, and a session at 2:00.
Adam and I went to the bureau to take care of shots and check out the bureau. At about 11:30, we decided to go to the restaurant a block away and grab burgers, take them back to the room, and watch a movie and eat lunch until the session at 2. A few days before we arrived, we’d heard that since Israel had attacked Gaza, there was an attempted bombing at the Israeli embassy in Nouakchott. Luckily, the Molotov cocktail didn’t detonate and no one was injured. Adam received a text our first day in Nouakchott from a PCV living in Nouakchott saying “There’s increased police presence. Keep a low profile”. Other than that, we had no clue how elevated the situation would become. After we had ordered our hamburgers and were waiting for them, we were talking with the worker at the restaurant. There were a lot of high school/college aged kids on the streets, which made since to me, since everyone is let out for lunch. They were just standing around socializing. It gave me no reason to think it was anything more than friends standing around talking. There was a police truck on the corner, but this wasn’t out of the ordinary, as we had seen police trucks all over town the day before. I mentioned the police to the restaurant worker and he was like “Yeah, people are made at Israel right now.” He went back to getting things ready for us, then said “You should stay here for a few minutes. I think people might get crazy”. I told him our hotel was real close, so he gave us our burgers and said, urgently “Go there NOW”. We weren’t sure why he was acting this way, but didn’t question it. In between the restaurant and the hotel, we stopped in a boutique to get Cokes. As we were waiting, we heard a commotion and looked out to see a large group of people running, in the direction of our hotel. The boutique owner looked at us with a concerned look, gave us our Cokes, and we started booking it to the hotel, right through the middle of the crowd. Immediately, we were noticed and people started shouting at us “F*** You Americans!” and screaming “Nasaraniye!”, which is Hassaniya for “white people” or “Christians”. Either way, people were not happy with us. We darted for the hotel, and got inside just in time to warn others not to leave. We went into our room on the third floor and out to the balcony just in time to see angry protestors throwing rocks at the police and the police shooting tear gas bombs at them. A couple of PCV’s in a taxi got caught right in between the protestors and police. When they finally arrived at our hotel, people were outside were pulling on their bags and yelling at them as they were trying to get into the building. For the next three hours, we watched the show from the roof of our hotel. The protests were making the rounds around town. People were lighting trash and tires on fire. We would see the black smoke of the fires rising, followed by the white smoke of tear gas. Numerous times throughout the afternoon, the protests would loop back to right in front of our hotel. Though a little nervous, I have to say that, while at a safe distance, it was a pretty cool to watch. The rest of the week of ETR/IST was relatively uneventful after that first day. Some kids would yell stuff at us. We had a few things thrown at us here and there, but no angry mobs to speak of. One day, there was a HUGE protest that went through town, but it was “government sanctioned”, which meant it was to be peaceful and the police would escort everyone. The crowd went by our hotel and we stood on the balcony watching them. There were thousands of people. A few people would see us, point, then give us the peace sign. A couple of big milestones over our break were the two celebrations of a) 6-months in Mauritania and b) 200 days in Africa. A quarter of our time in Africa is already over.
All good things must come to an end, including vacation (or being away from site). The car I was in from Nouakchott to Magta Lahjar kept breaking down, so it took us 8 hours instead of 4 hours to get to Magta. After ETR/IST, I’ve had more motivation to get some work done. Also, after speaking Hassaniya in Nouakchott to Moors who aren’t used to white people speaking Hassaniya and loved it, my confidence was much higher, and I’ve definitely noticed an improvement in my language. While in Nouakchott, almost all of the towns with Girls Mentoring Centers were given phones and a hook up for the internet, so I am happy to announce that I now have access to the internet in Magta Lahjar! It’s extremely slow and I’ll probably wait until I go to Aleg to update my blog and pictures, but at least I can keep in touch with people and stay connected with the world. Also, since I’ve been back in Magta, Mauritania has cut all ties with Israel, which isn’t necessarily a great thing, but hopefully this means the protests will end. We’re also eagerly awaiting the inauguration of our new President, Barak Obama, TODAY!!!
Now the countdown to WAIST begins. I found out last week that I’m playing on the “C” team. I’m definitely excited about going back to Senegal and to see everyone again so soon. Sorry for the delayed update and if you actually read all of this, thanks for getting through it all! It’s been an interesting month with some really great moments and some really stressful moments. I’m looking forward to the next adventures West Africa has in store!
The End of a Good Year: December 2008
In the two months since my last post, more has happened than the previous five months in Mauritania. After Thanksgiving, I returned to Magta Lahjar the same day as my site mate. We were told immediately that the owner of the house, who lives in Nouakchott, was recently married, and therefore wanted to move back into his own house. For one month. We had about 12 hours to find a new place and move out. A friend had heard of our misfortune, and came to show us a house that was available to rent. It was about three houses down from the house we were getting kicked out of, and would only be a small amount more per month. We didn’t even look before we decided to stay. The next morning, we began to move all of our possessions via donkey cart. When we first opened the doors to our new house, we were stunned. The house was huge!! Two bedrooms. A kitchen room. A shower room. A salon (living room). A huge entry way. Then there were the perks of having a concrete (not tin) roof, which keeps the house cooler. The roof is also accessible by some stairs, so the perfect perch to watch the camels walking to the dunes every morning to graze. The yard is huge (for Razza) and the walls are fairly high, so creepers won’t be an issue. There are also huge metal doors and metal lattice on all of the windows. I definitely feel more secure here. We’ve decided to stay here. If someone else is interested in the house, they’ll double our rent. But until then, we have probably one of the best housing deals I’ve heard of in Mauritania!
So, I spent the three weeks leading up to Christmas enjoying my new house, listening to Christmas music with the slew of volunteers passing through Magta Lahjar, and trying to feel all warm and fuzzy. I had heard talk of how amazing Nouakchott would be from second year volunteers. A couple of days before, I went to Aleg to convene with all of the first years that would be taking a car to Nouakchott together. The ride to Nouakchott was quick and painless. Then we had our first Nouakchott taxi experience. The taxi driver told us he knew where both hotels we needed to go to were. After driving around for about an hour and asking every person on the street where the hotels were, we finally got to our hotel. The hotels we stay in are arranged by the Peace Corps. As it would be difficult to fit over 100 people in one hotel (hotels aren’t very large in Nouakchott), we were split between four hotels, and divided by regions we live in. I was in the “Welcome” with my fellow North Braknians. The room I was in one was one of the smallest ones in the hotel, but still exceeded my expectations! There was a queen size bed, a bathroom with a hot shower, a kitchen area, and a breakfast nook. Thus began my list of
“Things I Haven’t Done In Six Months”
• Take a hot shower
• Sleep on a bed
• Use toilet paper
• Use an elevator
• Be completely emerged in water (Bathtub! Ocean!)
• Looked in a mirror larger than a sheet of notebook paper
• Wear pants in public
• Wear shorts and a tank top in public (this didn’t happen until St. Louis)
• Have a beer at a bar
• Been served at a restaurant
• Walk down the street holding hands with a member of the opposite sex (Also St. Louis)
• Wear a bathing suit (St. Louis)
• See my drivers license
• Said the phrase “I recommend the stuffed crab. It’s absolutely delectable!”
• Hold American dollars
• Leave Mauritania
• EAT PIZZA!!!!!
• Wear a seatbelt
After getting showers and changing into American clothes (jeans, tee-shirt, no head wrap), I went to the Chinese restaurant with some other volunteers. After filling our stomachs and enjoying our freedoms, it was time for a little nap. That evening, our Peace Corps Country Director, Obie, was having a special celebration at his house for the volunteers. Before we headed to Obie’s for the Christmas Eve celebration, we went to the only bar in town, Schenker’s, built exclusively for non-Mauritanians. You have to give your ID at the door to prove you’re a foreigner. They do this because it’s illegal for Mauritanian’s to consume alcohol or enjoy the savory taste of pork, both of which are served at Schenker’s. It’s mostly enjoyed by the embassy workers who live in Nouakchott. After meeting up with some other volunteers, we all took off for Obie’s house. A few of the second year volunteers had been chosen to prepare the appetizer-like food. It was incredible how delicious everything was! It was a wonderful evening of seeing all of my friends who I hadn’t seen in four months. Being able to catch up with everyone was really wonderful.
Christmas morning was bittersweet. I was really happy to be in Nouakchott and be surrounded by these people who have grown so close to me in the last six months. But, of course, it was really hard thinking about what would be going on at home. Stockings and breakfast casserole at Mom and Barry’s. Recovering from eating too many homemade enchiladas and chile relleno Christmas Eve, opening stockings with Dad and Donna. Hanging out with my brothers all day. So to forget my sorrows, I decided to stuff myself with Pizza!!!! When that first bite of deliciously melted cheese and warm sauce on a crunchy crust hit my lips, I had to fight back the tears. Six months have I been craving this!! Now, the pizza tasted like what a frozen pizza would taste like. Nothing gourmet, but nonetheless, amazing. I spent the afternoon with Adam and our two dogs, Razza and Miles. That night, we headed back to Obie’s to spend Christmas with everyone.
The next day, we took our time getting packed and ready to leave. We had breakfast at Equinox, one of the two establishments in Nouakchott owned by Americans, and had eggs, coffee, orange juice, croissants, and toast and jam for breakfast. I miss breakfast restaurants! Mid-afternoon, a group of us all got a car and began our return journey to Rosso. Upon arrival, we were pretty far from the volunteers’ house we were staying in, but decided to walk. As we were stomping through piles of trash, I began to remember how disgusting Rosso is. After dropping our luggage at the house, we took off for the camel burger restaurant! While waiting for the food, I was close enough to my host family’s house to stop in and say hello. They were really happy to see me, but almost immediately, my host mom started telling me about how she lost her job, her sister just died, and they don’t have any money. Luckily I had to get back to the restaurant, so didn’t have to be put in the same awkward situation she consistently put me in during stage. The next few days were spent relaxing and counting down the minutes until we were in St. Louis.
So, I spent the three weeks leading up to Christmas enjoying my new house, listening to Christmas music with the slew of volunteers passing through Magta Lahjar, and trying to feel all warm and fuzzy. I had heard talk of how amazing Nouakchott would be from second year volunteers. A couple of days before, I went to Aleg to convene with all of the first years that would be taking a car to Nouakchott together. The ride to Nouakchott was quick and painless. Then we had our first Nouakchott taxi experience. The taxi driver told us he knew where both hotels we needed to go to were. After driving around for about an hour and asking every person on the street where the hotels were, we finally got to our hotel. The hotels we stay in are arranged by the Peace Corps. As it would be difficult to fit over 100 people in one hotel (hotels aren’t very large in Nouakchott), we were split between four hotels, and divided by regions we live in. I was in the “Welcome” with my fellow North Braknians. The room I was in one was one of the smallest ones in the hotel, but still exceeded my expectations! There was a queen size bed, a bathroom with a hot shower, a kitchen area, and a breakfast nook. Thus began my list of
“Things I Haven’t Done In Six Months”
• Take a hot shower
• Sleep on a bed
• Use toilet paper
• Use an elevator
• Be completely emerged in water (Bathtub! Ocean!)
• Looked in a mirror larger than a sheet of notebook paper
• Wear pants in public
• Wear shorts and a tank top in public (this didn’t happen until St. Louis)
• Have a beer at a bar
• Been served at a restaurant
• Walk down the street holding hands with a member of the opposite sex (Also St. Louis)
• Wear a bathing suit (St. Louis)
• See my drivers license
• Said the phrase “I recommend the stuffed crab. It’s absolutely delectable!”
• Hold American dollars
• Leave Mauritania
• EAT PIZZA!!!!!
• Wear a seatbelt
After getting showers and changing into American clothes (jeans, tee-shirt, no head wrap), I went to the Chinese restaurant with some other volunteers. After filling our stomachs and enjoying our freedoms, it was time for a little nap. That evening, our Peace Corps Country Director, Obie, was having a special celebration at his house for the volunteers. Before we headed to Obie’s for the Christmas Eve celebration, we went to the only bar in town, Schenker’s, built exclusively for non-Mauritanians. You have to give your ID at the door to prove you’re a foreigner. They do this because it’s illegal for Mauritanian’s to consume alcohol or enjoy the savory taste of pork, both of which are served at Schenker’s. It’s mostly enjoyed by the embassy workers who live in Nouakchott. After meeting up with some other volunteers, we all took off for Obie’s house. A few of the second year volunteers had been chosen to prepare the appetizer-like food. It was incredible how delicious everything was! It was a wonderful evening of seeing all of my friends who I hadn’t seen in four months. Being able to catch up with everyone was really wonderful.
Christmas morning was bittersweet. I was really happy to be in Nouakchott and be surrounded by these people who have grown so close to me in the last six months. But, of course, it was really hard thinking about what would be going on at home. Stockings and breakfast casserole at Mom and Barry’s. Recovering from eating too many homemade enchiladas and chile relleno Christmas Eve, opening stockings with Dad and Donna. Hanging out with my brothers all day. So to forget my sorrows, I decided to stuff myself with Pizza!!!! When that first bite of deliciously melted cheese and warm sauce on a crunchy crust hit my lips, I had to fight back the tears. Six months have I been craving this!! Now, the pizza tasted like what a frozen pizza would taste like. Nothing gourmet, but nonetheless, amazing. I spent the afternoon with Adam and our two dogs, Razza and Miles. That night, we headed back to Obie’s to spend Christmas with everyone.
The next day, we took our time getting packed and ready to leave. We had breakfast at Equinox, one of the two establishments in Nouakchott owned by Americans, and had eggs, coffee, orange juice, croissants, and toast and jam for breakfast. I miss breakfast restaurants! Mid-afternoon, a group of us all got a car and began our return journey to Rosso. Upon arrival, we were pretty far from the volunteers’ house we were staying in, but decided to walk. As we were stomping through piles of trash, I began to remember how disgusting Rosso is. After dropping our luggage at the house, we took off for the camel burger restaurant! While waiting for the food, I was close enough to my host family’s house to stop in and say hello. They were really happy to see me, but almost immediately, my host mom started telling me about how she lost her job, her sister just died, and they don’t have any money. Luckily I had to get back to the restaurant, so didn’t have to be put in the same awkward situation she consistently put me in during stage. The next few days were spent relaxing and counting down the minutes until we were in St. Louis.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)